Eastpointe resident indicted in child porn investigation

A former Eastpointe court security officer was one of more than 200 adults arrested as part of an international probe of child pornography, dubbed Operation Sunflower, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Thursday.

Michael Wioskowski, 54, of Eastpointe, was indicted Nov. 27 on one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography, according to online records with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. He was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond.

Investigators found a video in his house of two underage girls showering at his house when authorities executed a search warrant at his residence, officials said.

"The sexual abuse of young children, often at the hands of people they trust, is particularly wrong," ICE Director John Morton said in a statement.

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Authorities said Wioskowski worked more than 10 years ago as a reserve police officer in Hamtramck and two years ago as a court officer in the 38th District Court in Eastpointe.

He was fired last year in Eastpointe after the federal raid of his house, which is located a few blocks away from the Eastpointe Police Department and courthouse on Nine Mile Road.

As a condition of his release, Wioskowski was ordered to have no contact with minors without the direction supervision of a responsible adult, surrender his firearm and carrying a concealed weapons permit, and attend sex offenders therapy treatment.

Authorities said federal agents saw Wioskowski trying to bury the hard drive to his computer in his back yard.

He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted, said Khaalid Walls, an ICE public affairs officer.

Approximately 123 victims were identified across the country during Operation Sunflower, officials said in a news release. Five of the children were under the age of 3, nine were ages 4-6; 21 were 7-9; 11 were 10-12, 38 were 13-15; and 15 were 16-17 years old.

Twenty-four of the victims are now adults and were taken advantage of when they were children. About 70 were female and 53 were male.

Walls said in 2012, 292 victims were identified or rescued as a direct result of child pornography investigations. Walls said his office spends more time prosecuting child predators than any other crime.

Also last year, 1,655 child predators were arrested on criminal charges related to child sexual investigations.

According to the indictment, Wioskowski received child pornography on his home computer from February 2011 through Jan. 31, 2012. The pornography depicted children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. He allegedly stored the materials on his home computer.

Robert Harrison, Wioskowski's attorney, could not be reached for comment. A trial is tentatively set for April 15.